Lisa Elmaleh

Lisa Elmaleh is a wet-plate collodion photographer based in West Virginia. She teaches at the Penumbra Foundation and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her darkroom is in the back of her 1996 Toyota Tacoma.

5 A.M. I wake up at home in Hampshire County and start driving in the still, quiet morning. I’m heading toward Fayette County in my faded red pickup with a loud, broken exhaust pipe. To the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel, it’s a four-hour drive, a pile of cassette tapes in my passenger seat, and a lot of coffee and cigarettes. My first day is scouting, finding the points on the map, seeking out the light.

Drawing from the famous nineteenth century portraits made by Doris Ulmann, Lisa Elmaleh’s project American Folk documents the contemporary development of traditional arts throughout the Appalachian Mountains.